Continuous Improvement - Personal Mastery

Personal mastery is what Peter Senge describes as one of the core disciplines needed to build a learning organisation. It is a journey of individual continuous improvement; an ongoing pursuit for which we ourselves are responsible, set in the context of other people and systems.

The process involves a deep understanding of:

• Your values
• Your strengths
• How you want to add value to your organisation

Doing things better

One definition of continuous improvement is simply 'doing things better', both at an individual and an organisational level. The majority of people in an organisation taking responsibility for improving how they work will result in a cumulative shift in performance and results.

Senge describes the gap that exists between where you are currently functioning and where you want to be as 'creative tension.' If the gap is perceived as too great, people tend to feel powerless to change anything; too small and people feel demotivated. The key is to identify areas where the challenge to do better is a genuine stretch yet also achievable for you.

Characteristics of personal mastery

The discipline of personal mastery is based on a number of key principles and practices:

• Personal vision
• Personal purpose
• Holding creative tension between vision and current reality
• Mitigating the impact of deeply rooted beliefs that are contrary to personal mastery
• Commitment to truth
• Understanding the subconscious.

According to Senge, those who are on the road to personal mastery have the following characteristics:

• They have a sense of purpose underscoring their goals
• They see change as opportunity
• They are committed to seeing reality increasingly accurately
• They are extremely inquisitive
• They do not resist change, but work with it
• They feel connected to others and to the bigger picture
• They trust that they are part of a larger creative process, which they have the power to influence

Doing things better entails learning

Those who engage positively with continuous improvement treat every incident as a case study from which learning can occur. Whether something has gone well or not so well, they reflect on what they can learn and how they will use it constructively in the future.

"The core leadership strategy is simple: be a model.
Commit yourself to your own personal mastery."